Abstract: Echocardiography was used in investigation of cardiac structure and left ventricular systolic function in 374 patients with essential hypertension (EH) and 88 age matched healthy subjects. It was found that diameters of aortic root (AOD),left atrial (LAD) and left ventricular mass (LVM) were significantly increased (P <0.05 and <0.01) in patients with EHthan in healthy subjects. Stroke volume (SV) and cardiac output (CO) increased,but left ventricular fractional shortening (FS) decreased in patients with EH(Ⅲ degrees) (P <0.05),there were no changes in patients with EH(Ⅰand Ⅱ degrees). It was suggested that left ventricular systolic function decreased with developing situation in patients with EH.

Key words: essential hypertension, echocardiography, left ventricular systolic function